The pony car wars are about one-upsmanship if nothing else. The Ford Mustang held court for years while Chevrolet and Dodge had their horses on hiatus, but times have changed. The new Camaro has been whaling on the Mustang ever since its return, beating the Ford in sales for nine months straight and offering a range engines that are at once more powerful and efficient than the Blue Oval's aging mills. Advantage: Camaro.

The Mustang, however, received a nicely executed redesign for its 2010 model year and, as is Ford's way, the automaker waited another model year to introduce its new range of engines. You already know all about the return of the storied 5.0 moniker on this year's new Mustang GT. You also know that the V6 model is replacing its Civil War era 4.0-liter engine with a more powerful and efficient 3.7-liter. Powerful as in 305 horsepower, but how efficient? We didn't know before but we do now. The 2011 Ford Mustang V6 will achieve 19 miles per gallon in the city and, more noteworthy, 31 mpg on the highway.

The V6 model's rating of 30 mpg highway (when paired with the six-speed auto mind you, the manual version achieves 30 mpg) is noteworthy because, well, it's 2 mpg more than the slightly less powerful 304-hp Camaro V6. Also, it's a record for being the first 300+ hp vehicle to be officially rated at 30 mpg or more. Wow, think about that. It's never been done before. Sure, the new Mustang V6 is only marginally more powerful and efficient than its Camaro counterpart, but clawing above that 30 mpg mark will no doubt get Ford's thoroughbred some extra ink in the press.

Follow the jump for Ford's official press release on the matter, in which it explains a little more how those magic numbers were achieved (Spoiler: aerodynamics, super smart six-speed auto and electric power assisted steering).

Ford has announced the official fuel economy numbers for the 2011 Mustang V6, and in doing so, stakes a claim to producing the world’s first car to produce over 300 horsepower while also achieving over 30 miles per gallon (EPA). The 2011 Mustang 3.7-liter V6 with six-speed automatic is officially rated at 305 hp and 31 highway miles per gallon.

When Ford first made the claim that they intended to introduce vehicles that were leaders in fuel economy in every segment moving forward, the world largely dismissed the suggestion as nothing more than typical puffery by executives. Ford then introduced the 2010 Ford Fusion – with the most fuel efficient four and six-cylinder engines, as well as the most fuel efficient hybrid offering in the class. Still, the Fusion was nothing more than a single example – until the 2011 Ford Fiesta numbers were released – and put the small car several miles per gallon above anything currently in the class – with 40 miles per gallon highway on Fiesta SFE.

Then Ford put the world on its heels when it said that the 2011 Mustang V6 would have “expected” 30 miles per gallon – and tonight Ford announced that not only will the V6 Mustang achieve 30 mpg highway when equipped with a six-speed manual, but it will belt out 31 mpg highway when equipped with a new six-speed automatic transmission. Ford’s confirmation of an EPA-rated 31 highway mpg rating to go along with the 305 horsepower rating makes the 2011 Mustang the most fuel efficient car with over 300 hp ever produced.

Both the manual and automatic Mustang will achieve a rating of 19 city mpg, for a combined rating of 24.5 mpg for the manual and 25 mpg for the automatic. Ford says that it was able to achieve these historic numbers through a combination of external aerodynamic changes to the vehicle, in addition to significant efforts to optimize efficiency within the engine and the rest of the drivetrain.

Ford’s new 3.7-liter V6

For 2011 Ford ditches the long in the tooth 4.0 SOHC V6 in place of a more powerful, and significantly more fuel efficient 3.7-liter Ti-VCT all-aluminum DOHC V6. In simpler terms, the engine features lightweight aluminum as opposed to an iron block for weights savings, twin independent variable camshaft timing to allow for adjustments to the valvetrain in microseconds. Ford also made numerous minor tweaks, such as further polishing internal components of the engine for reduced drag and engine wear, which results in boosted power and fuel economy.

The technology behind the fuel economy

Outside of aerodynamic and engine changes, Ford also deployed its newest technology in power steering – EPAS, or electric power assist steering. EPAS utilizes an electric motor to operate power steering, effectively reducing the constant drag on the engine associated with traditional hydraulic power steering. Ford says EPAS typically provides for a one percent increase in fuel economy, in addition to a scalable steering input dynamic that minimizes the effort requires when maneuvering the vehicle at lower speeds, and normalizes when the vehicle reaches higher speeds to reduce the chance of fast reaction induced oversteer.

Six-speeds for all

Another key aspect to Ford’s bumps in fuel economy can be found in the all-new six-speed transmissions. “Advanced powertrains like our Ti-VCT V-6 and six-speed automatic really speak to the future of Mustang,” says Barb Samardzich, Ford vice president of global powertrain engineering. “We’ve proven that, using technology, Ford can deliver both power and fuel economy.”

Ford also recently announced a $155 million investment into its Cleveland engine plant in order to produce the V6 that will power the Mustang V6.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Yes it's impressive, but like regfootball said (and beat me to the punch to) is that it has the weight advantage. The Camaro has less displacement to make virtually the same power but weighs less, mostly due to lacking IRS. Even up the game, Ford, and we'll see what happens with that "high" MPG rating.

Anybody willing to bet that they're letting the media highlight their MPG with the V6 model before they introduce IRS within a couple years and the MPGs drop under that 30 mark?

A few points. It's 99 percent certain that they won't do IRS on this platform. The SRA rear has been extremley well balanced and most magazines and test groups say it out performs the Camaro's in both feel and objective numbers in performance situations. They say the only disadvantage is that ride quality degrades slightly over rough pavement. SRA is also more durable and better for straight acceleration and drag racing.

I'll take the SRA the IRS any day since it keeps weight down.

The 2014/2015 mustang will have IRS and be on a new platform without the reto style.

Having lived with an early S197 mustang for two years I can attest to the fact that you rarely ever, if at all feel that you need an IRS.

Agreed on the idea that, were they both placed in cars of the same weight, the 3.6 would be more efficient. It also matters how Ford geared the Mustang's transmission/rear end to achieve the magic number - did they sacrifice some performance for the increased mileage? Nonetheless, it's perception that matters. 30mpg is a big number that Ford can hype as much as they want (deservedly so), and the next move is GM's to make. I'm betting they won't take this lying down.

300+ hp and 30+ mpg is excellent and Ford knows what they are doing. Meanwhile GM has a 2.8 turbo V6 that gets 22 mpg and a weak 3.0 V6 that isn't powerful or efficient. I am curious what the F150's fuel economy will be with this engine, because other brands have V8s making similar horsepower to this V6.

Link to post

Share on other sites

Very good point, I'd much rather have a 250 hp Malibu that gets 26 mpg, than a 305 hp/31 mpg rear drive car. Good thing GM figured out FWD is the solution to CAFE and the energy crisis before anyone else did.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Very good point, I'd much rather have a 250 hp Malibu that gets 26 mpg, than a 305 hp/31 mpg rear drive car. Good thing GM figured out FWD is the solution to CAFE and the energy crisis before anyone else did.

for cafe reasons GM would rather sell lots of 4 cyl LT FWD Malibus instead of 6 cyl G8's. Likewise, Ford will prefer to sell more 300hp v6 Mustangs than v8's. Even though the v8's boost profit in theory, both Ford and GM will need to sell more cars with smaller engines.

FOrd figured if they made the v6 good enough, then they won't have to deal with the burden of having so many v8's against their cap charge.

GM figures they can sell you a Malibu 4 cyl LTZ at 28k or a G8 at 28k. The Malibu is cheaper to make, better vs. CAFE. Whatever they can condition you to accept in return for parting with your 28 thou. This way they make more money and don't have as much CAFE hell.

Once Ford gets more folks hooked on the v6 Mustang, they will figure out how to option and package them for maximum profit.

The next victim is the Chrysler 300. Where so many of them had Hemis before, the new one, I bet an overwhelming majority are the v6. Justice in that case since the Hemi 300's popularity was the poster child for fuel excess that led to the run on fuel prices and the gas bubble. and all else.